


Should've Been You

by BlakeStorm, LaceyBush (Dixon1994)



Series: Evil Plots [1]
Category: Supernatural, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Anger, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Crossover, Flash Fic, Series, Shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 19:55:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16501730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlakeStorm/pseuds/BlakeStorm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dixon1994/pseuds/LaceyBush
Summary: AU - Pre ZA.Rick doesn't get shot, but something else happens. Sam and Dean are in town investigating a report of someone coming back from the dead and they cross paths with Rick. They soon realize they need help from each other.





	Should've Been You

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is the first of two stories. No promises that the other will be along quickly though lol. Let us know if you enjoy it!

Rick and Shane are having lunch and talking when the radio beeps and the voice of the King County dispatcher fills the car. “All available units, high-speed pursuit in progress. Linden County units request local assistance. Highway 18 eastbound. GTA, ADW, 2-17, 2-4-3. Advise extreme caution.”

Rick starts the engine and turns on the siren. 

Shane dunks the bag with their leftover meal into the trash can as Rick drives past with tires squealing.

On a rural blacktop roadway a couple of crows feast on the carcass of an animal. Two sheriff’s cars approach, sirens blaring.

King County dispatcher speaks again. “Suspects are two male Caucasians. Be advised they have fired upon police officers. One Linden County officer is wounded.”

One of the cars stops and takes position on the road while Rick takes their car a few hundred feet further and slams his brakes and hits the trunk release. Shane jumps out and grabs a spike strip from the trunk.

“Unit 1, unit 3, to eastbound Route 18, two miles west of Interstate 85. Will patch in Linden County Sheriff radio.” The dispatcher speaks.

Shane and Rick quickly lay the spike strip across the road, get back in the car and Rick backs their unit into position with the other, blocking access to oncoming traffic.

Linden County Deputy speaks over radio. “Roger that. We’re five minutes south of the Route 18 intersection.” 

Inside the second car, King County Sheriff Deputy Lam Kendall communicates with dispatch. ”Dispatch, Unit 1 and Unit 3 we are 10-97 and code 100, Highway 18, E.B. of interstate. Please advise.”

The man from the Linden County Dispatcher speaks. “10-9 we just got word from Linden County that they’re off 18, now southbound-” tires screech, drowning out the radio.

Rick and Shane get out of their car as do the other two deputies.

 

Linden County Dispatch speaks again. “Old French Road is closed down there so they’re gonna head back onto 18.”

Rick, Shane and two other officers take positions between their vehicles. Shane takes off his ball cap and takes a position behind Rick who kneels with his weapon out. The other two deputies do likewise with Deputy Lam Kendall kneeling, and Deputy Leon Basset standing behind.

Deputy Kendall speaks to Rick. “Sounds like they chasing those idiots up and down every back road we’ve got.”

Deputy Leon Bassett piped up then. “Maybe we’ll get on one of them video shows, you know? Like ‘World’s craziest police chases.’ What do you think?”

Rick looks to him, irritated. “What I think, Leon, is you need to stay focused and make sure you’ve got a round in the chamber and your safety off.”

They hear distant sirens and Leon checks his gun.

Shane looks to Rick. “Would be kinda cool, getting on one of them shows.” 

Rick shakes his head. The sound of police sirens in the distance can be heard growing closer.

A silver two door seventies muscle car fishtails across the highway with two Linden County vehicles in close pursuit. The driver regains control and keeps the lead but not without kissing the bumper of the first deputies’ car. Again the driver keeps control without losing speed.

The chase approaches the road where the spikes were laid. The two King County sheriff’s cars lay beyond about a quarter mile. The muscle car blows its tires on the spikes, skids along the road then flips end over end. The police cars come to a stop. The fugitive’s vehicle rolls to a stop in the nearest field.

“Holy shit.” Shane mutters.

The Linden County officers get out of their vehicles. All guns are pointing toward the wrecked car. Unsure of survivors, deputies from both counties slowly approach the vehicle.

The car door opens and a fugitive comes out armed with a SIG-Sauer P228.

“Gun gun gun!”

“Put it down! Put the gun down!” Rick ordered.

The fugitive shoots at his pursuers then at Rick. Even though several dozen shots are fired none stop the suspect from turning his sights on Rick. One of his bullets hits Rick’s chest on the lower right. The impact sends him to the ground.

The deputies continue to shoot and the fugitive goes down with several wounds. A second fugitive comes out and starts shooting with a shotgun and all officers fire back. Rick rolls on the ground gasping for breath and seeking cover as Shane dodges ricochets and direct hits to their patrol car. Finally a deputy hits the second gunman in the chest and he falls.

“RICK!”

“I’m all right!” As he reassures Shane he reloads. Breathing raggedly Rick struggles to his feet.

“I saw you get tagged, man. That scared the hell out of me.”

“Me, too. That son of a bitch shot me. Can you believe that?”

“It catch you in your vest?”

“Yeah.” Rick looks down to see the damage the bullet did to his uniform and vest. Meanwhile, a third man crawls out of the car and across the grass. “Shane, you do not tell Lori that happened– ever.”

The third man raises a pistol and aims.

“You understand?” Rick turns and points at Shane to emphasize his words. The unexpected fugitive shoots. 

Just as Shane was about to reply he felt white hot pain in his neck. 

Rick turns and fires a shot, neutralizing the final man, before turning back to Shane. “Shane! No! No no no no no no. Shh shh shh shh. No no no no no no no no. He’s hit! Leon! You get that ambulance down here! You tell them there’s an officer down! You do it now! Okay, shh shh shh shh. I’m here. Hey, you look at me. You stay with me. You hear me? Shh shh shh. Okay. I’m right here, Shane. Stay with me. You hear me? Shh shh. That’s it. Do you hear me? Shh shh shh. Okay. I’m right here with you. Stay with me.” He hears distant sirens. 

Leon speaks into the radio. “Dispatch, we have an officer down. Request paramedics please respond. Highway 18 four miles west of I-85. Repeat, officer down. Request immediate response.”

*********

Shane had no family to speak of so the funeral was small. Just Rick, Lori and Carl plus the sheriffs department and some other guys who knew Shane from the job. It was small, but it was respectful. 

That night Rick lay awake thinking about everything. Thinking about how close that bullet had come to hitting him in the head. Had he not turned it would have hit him and not Shane. He couldn't help but feel guilt and relief all at once. 

**********

Rick took a couple weeks off to deal with the death of his best friend and partner. He spent time with Carl and Lori and also spent some time alone. 

After the first few days off, Rick started to worry about his own health and sanity. He felt some days like he couldn't function. He was laying things down in strange places and not remembering it, hearing things at night and he was always cold. Especially when he was alone. 

After a week, he really was scared. He swore he could see and hear Shane in the house. He thought it was wishful thinking, until he narrowly dodged a knife flying at his head from the counter when he was home alone.

*********

Rick sat at the bar sipping whiskey. He had to be going crazy, that was the only explanation. He finished his drink and clambered from the barstool. He was stumbling out the door when he walked into someone. “Sorry.” He slurred as he kept going, barely avoiding a collision with a second man. 

The two men watched as Rick stumbled to his car and fumbled with the keys. 

“Dean. I don't think he should be driving.”

“Probably not but that's not our problem. Come on Sam.” 

Sam Winchester stared at his older brother until Dean finally rolled his eyes and headed towards Rick. 

“Hey man, look… you shouldn't drive like this, you've clearly had too much to drink. Is there someone you can call to come get you?”

“I… I'm fine.” Rick slurred as he rocked slightly on his feet, struggling to remain upright.

“No. You're not. Why don't we give you a lift huh? Before you hit a tree or something and get yourself killed.” Dean was becoming a little agitated with this assclown.

“Look buddy.” Rick took a wobbly step closer to Dean. “My own kitchen tried to kill me today and missed so I think I can dodge a few med-medicaning trees.” 

Dean chuckled lightly at the man struggle to pronounce menacing, then his brain backed him up a step. “Wait. You're kitchen… tried to kill you…?”

“Yeah. Threw a knife right at my head. Barely missed.” Rick began to laugh. “I have to be going crazy. Kitchens can't throw knives right?” 

Dean squinted at the laughing man wondering if he was just that drunk or if there was something there. He decided he'd get the clown home then play the FBI card the next day. “Come on man. Let me take ya home.”

*********

Rick was still hungover the next morning. He was having trouble focusing and he wanted to throw up. The doorbell rang and he felt like his head was going to explode. When he answered the door to find two FBI agents he thought maybe he'd really fucked up last night. But the questioning didn't go quite the way he thought it would. 

"So, when this knife flew at you, did you happen to notice anything else strange?" 

Rick glanced skeptically at the shorter of the two men "Stranger than a knife flying at me?" he asked. 

The taller man spoke up. "He means like, strange sounds, sudden drop in temperature. Anything weird like that?" 

Rick sat in silence for a moment before beginning to chuckle. "And I thought I was crazy. But you two… you're batshit. You're the best the FBI's got? I don't even remember you guys giving names." 

"I'm Agent Jones." The shorter one replied. He pointed to the taller one. "This is my partner Agent Smith."

“Look… I don't care who you are. Whatever I said last night was obviously a result of temporary drunken insanity. There is nothing here that requires the FBI. Thank you for getting me home.” Rick stood and led them to the door. 

"Thank You for your time this morning, Mister.." Agent Smith said, hoping to get a name. 

"Grimes." Rick replied shortly. "Officer Grimes." 

"Well if you have any questions, or anymore knives fly at you, feel free to call." Dean handed Rick a card with one of their numbers on it. 

As they walked to the Impala, Sam looked to Dean. “The EMF was all over the place. Whatever is in there… it isn't happy.” 

********

Sam and Dean spent the next 24 hours digging into the history of not only the house but also of one King County Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes. 

“So, the house and Grimes both have a clean background.” Sam sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face. 

“Really?” Dean scoffed. “You'd think for a cop he'd have a few kills under his belt that would make for a pissed off spirit.”

“Dean, he's a cop not a hired gun.”

“Yeah yeah. Same thing.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “He's been a deputy for fifteen years and only has three shootings in his jacket. No deaths, all clean and justified to stop someone.”

“Okay. What about family members?”

“None that died bloody or in the house. I'm telling you, Dean, this guy's clean. I mean, other than the EMF, we've got nothing… maybe he really was just spouting drunken craziness.”

Dean rubbed his hands over his face. “I don't know man. EMF never left us down before.” 

Sam sighed and nodded. “I'll check again.” He resumed his search on Rick and was surprised to find something he hadn't seen before. “Dean, check this out.” 

Dean read out loud. “‘High speed car chase ends with fugitives in a shootout with sheriff deputies from two counties. One Linden County officer was wounded during the chase when one fugitive shot out the window of the car and struck the officer in the shoulder. The chase ended when the car went out of control after hitting spike strips and rolling over. Two fugitives were shot at this point as the fired on the deputies and the third, unexpected man was neutralized after having shot and killed King County Sheriff's Deputy Shane Walsh.’”

Sam typed in the name and they both read the obituary, which listed no family but did list best friend and partner on the force, Rick Grimes and his family. 

After some hacking, they read the report from the deputies on scene and learned that the bullet that struck and killed Shane would have hit Rick in the head had he not turned sideways.

Dean shook his head. “So we're thinking that it's this Walsh guy? Angry that he's dead and not Grimes?”

Sam shrugged. “Makes sense. I mean, listen to this. This is from Rick's statement. ‘Someone screwed up. They called in two suspects, not three. No one knew about that guy until it was too late. He was aiming for me, not Shane. He had the gun pointed to my head and I moved and it hit Shane.’ Guy moves, friend dies instead… makes for a pissed off spirit.”

********

Rick was sitting at Shane's grave drinking a beer and reminiscing out loud about highschool days. “I remember when I first saw Lori and I was scared to ask her out. And you said, ‘Go for it. Worst she can do is say no and then it's her loss.’ So I did. I don't think I ever thanked you for that.” Rick suddenly felt cold and wondered when it started getting chilly out. He said goodbye and stood to leave. He heard a noise behind him and spun around, coming face to face with a very bloody Shane. Rick felt all the blood drain from his face as he step back quickly. “Y-you're dead!” He spluttered. 

Shane advanced on him and he found himself frozen in shock, unable to run. “It should have been you!” Shane snarled as he shoved Rick with a strength only something inhuman could have.

Rick flew backwards several feet and landed on a tombstone. When he looked up, he couldn't see Shane anymore. “I'm going fucking crazy.” He groaned and stood only to find Shane in his face yet again. 

Shane grabbed Rick by the throat and lifted him from the ground. “All you had to do was die! She would have been mine! But you had to move! It should have been you!” His voice was deep and inhuman sounding.

Rick was about to black out when a gunshot sounded and Shane vanished, dropping Rick to the ground. He gasped for air and tried to see where the shot came from. 

“Come on. We gotta get outta here.” Dean held out his hand to help Rick up. 

“What the hell was that?! He's dead! Where the fuck did he go?!” 

“Vengeful spirit, we know, and shot him with rock salt. Not permanent but works in a pinch. We'll explain the rest later, right now we gotta go.”

“FBI my ass! Who the hell are you?!”

“Look Officer Friendly, you can either shut up and do as you're told and live through this or we can leave your ass here with your friend's pissed off ghost and you can die! Your choice, but I gotta tell ya, I know which door I'd pick behind.” 

Rick hesitated only a second before he quickly followed them out of the cemetery and into their car. 

*********

They arrived back at the hotel room and Sam handed Rick a beer. 

“So, you're telling me that the spirit of my dead best friend, has came back to kill me? Why?” Rick shook his head in disbelief. 

Sam shrugged slightly. “We were kind of hoping you could tell us. We were guessing that he was vengeful because the gunman missed you and hit him by mistake, which seems to be mostly true but… we heard what he said at the cemetery… seems like there is more to it.” 

Rick rubbed his faced and sighed as realization dawned on him. “I hoped to God I was wrong.”

“About what?” Dean asked. 

“My wife, Lori, I uh… I had been suspecting for awhile now that she and Shane were…” he trailed off. “I didn't wanna believe it. Shane had started to act funny a few days before that chase. After it all happened, during the interrogation, the shooter said that Shane paid him to take the shot at me but I moved. We all thought he was just trying to tarnish a good cops name.” 

Dean sighed. “Well that makes sense why he's so damn strong.”

Sam nodded. “We need to get back to the cemetery and dig up the body, salt and burn it. It's the only way to out his spirit to rest and save you.” 

“Wait, you wanna what?” Rick pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned. “What the hell are you guys?” 

“Hunters.” Dean stated simply. 

Rick shook his head. “Why are you here?” 

“Heard it through the hunter grapevine that there was someone last week that was shot and killed, but supposedly came back to life before they were even cold and tried to eat a cop.”

“What?” Rick looked at them like they were crazy. “That isn't even possible. Even if it was, I never heard anything about it.”

“It was kept very hush, hush.” Dean replied.

“Yeah we were heading into the bar that night to try and find one of the witnesses when we ran into you and after what you said, we decided to check this out too.”

Rick stared at them with a blank expression. “After this is all over, can you guys do me a favor?”

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance and nodded. 

“Have me committed.”

**********

After making a plan in case Shane's spirit would attack again, they gathered what they needed and made their way back to the cemetery. Sam stood watch while Rick helped Dean dig up the grave and open the casket. 

“So… you just… desecrate the grave and… poof? No more ghost?” Rick asked, trying his hardest not to be sarcastic. 

Dean glared at him. “Well we like to think it's a little more complicated than that and maybe even a bit scientific… but yeah.” He snarked back. 

Rick was about to remind him that he was still a cop and could arrest them for this when Shane flickered into sight behind Dean, grabbing him and throwing him across the cemetery before moving towards Rick once more. 

“Dean!” Sam yelled out before he shot and caused Shane to vanish. 

“I'm fine!” Dean groaned as he stood. “I'm gonna enjoy lighting this son of a bitch up.” He muttered as he returned to the grave and grabbed the lighter fluid.

Shane reappeared and grabbed Rick by the neck. “It should have been you!” He punched Rick. “He was supposed to shoot you!” Punch. “Then she was mine!” Punch. “IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!” 

As Shane drew back to deliver a final blow, Dean dropped a lit match onto Shane lighter fluid soaked body.

Rick fell to the ground as Shane screamed and burst into flames before vanishing.

********

They dropped Rick at his house later that night. 

“I don't know how to thank you boys. You saved my life.” Rick shook their hands. 

“Just don't tell anyone about anything and we're square.” Dean gave him a thumbs up. 

Rick smiled and shook his head. “You got it.”

“You gonna be alright?” Sam, being the ever worrying of the two, asked. 

“Yeah… I uh… just gotta get a good divorce lawyer.” Rick chuckled sadly.

Sam gave a sad smile in return as Rick's phone rang and he excused himself to answer it. 

“Hello?” He paused and listened to the caller on the other end. “What? You're sure?” Alright thanks I'll be there soon.” He hung up the phone and turned to the boys again. “Remember that rumor you were here checking out?”

They nodded. 

“I just got a call from the station. Apparently the same thing just happened the next county over.”

“Let's go.” Dean said as he headed towards the Impala. 

*To Be Continued*


End file.
